Thursday 27 March 2014 13.18 EDT
First published on Thursday 27 March 2014 13.18 EDT

The first thing you notice about Rebecca Tunney, the youngest gymnast to represent Britain at the London Olympics, is a maturity that belies her age. The teenager is no shrinking violet on the bars, beam or the vault but step out of the gym and there exists a quiet and endearingly polite 17-year-old who speaks with the foresight of a seasoned pro.

"I've definitely grown up a lot since 2012," says Tunney, after bursting on to the scene at the age of 15 two years ago. "Now that I'm a bit older I understand the pressure a lot more but I've been competing since I was five, so I know how to handle it."

Speaking at the City of Liverpool gymnastics club in Toxteth, Tunney reflects on a remarkably busy period in her young life that has provided few spare hours for leisure. As well as competing at this weekend's British championships at Liverpool's Echo Arena, the Manchester-born athlete will soon take nine GCSE exams during preparations for this summer's Commonwealth Games.

Yet there is no sense of being overawed. Be it studying Of Mice and Men one day or practising somersaults the next, Tunney, nicknamed Twiggy by her GB team-mates, is taking everything in her stride. London, she says, was a seminal moment in her adolescence that aided her development as a person and a gymnast. Luckily, she did not realise it at the time.

"Obviously I was only 15 in 2012 and it was definitely overwhelming. It was pot luck how I'd react and take to it, whether the pressure was going to overwhelm me so much that I'd have a disaster competition or if it was going to go straight over my head. Thankfully, it went straight over my head and I was able to go out and perform. It was amazing. The way the crowd went crazy when we walked out, it was definitely different to any other competition that I've been in. It was absolutely unreal. It gave you a massive boost of adrenaline and got you pumped for the competition because you knew you had great support behind you.

"The past two years have definitely gone fast since the Olympics and Rio will creep up. Two years isn't that long. Sometimes you feel like you are missing out on quality time with your friends and family but you also know you can do all that when you are a bit older. Gymnastics is not a career you have all your life."

Combining 28 hours in the gym every week with her studies at the Belvedere Academy in south Liverpool can have its complications. However, under the stewardship of her coach, Claire Hynd, Tunney hopes to develop into a medal contender for the Rio Games in 2016.

She was part of the British team who finished sixth at London, their best result since 1928, before ending the individual all-around competition in 13th place. Having won gold at the British championships two years ago and missing last year's event, Tunney is keen to kickstart her campaign with a victory before potentially more success in Glasgow.

"I didn't compete there last year but won the gold two years ago. Hopefully I can do the same and regain my title," she says. "You are always learning new skills and it's a challenge. It can be scary at times but there's always the adrenaline inside you. It takes a lot of training from a young age. London was the first Games I ever did but to do another one again would be great. An Olympic medal would top off my whole career."

Given the limited shelf life of gymnasts at elite level, Rio could represent Tunney's best chance of an Olympic medal, with a number of talented British rivals emerging through the system.

"Beth has been great, I've always watched her in the gym, how she trains and how she tackles and copes with bad days and good days. She's always been an inspiration to look up to. She finally got what she deserved in London. With the age difference it was hard at first and me being the youngest and her the oldest at the Olympics, she had to look after me a little bit. There is now a good friendship between us.

"It's good for young women to have role models to look up to. Beth has been that and I'd love for kids in the future to come up to me and say 'you made me start gymnastics or I started because of you'. That would be a massive achievement for myself, just knowing that."